Desperate Measures
by Raisalis
Summary: Being reborn is... not fun. Meeting fictional characters that will die just adds fuel to the fire. Some desperate measures are going to need to be taken to ensure everyone survives at some point.
1. Chapter 1

Dying... had admittedly been on my mind more than I liked to admit, but it wasn't in a suicidal way. No, I would never do it, but it was in the morbid "void" sense that it came to me when I was bored. Or in the middle of doing something. Or a lull in conversation.

What would the person next to me think? What would the person across the street think? What would happen to me? Could I think in the afterlife?

Unfortunately, I found out far, far too soon. I was my own undoing.

I remember falling and falling and falling...

And then nothing but warmth surrounding me.

* * *

I didn't think much during my time in what I later found out to be my new mother's womb. It was an endless abyss of comforting warmth, floating in oblivion. Every once in a while, I would hear words and voices that were lost in meaning, lost in limbo as I was. Everything was perfect, nothing was wrong, I felt I could stay there forever...

Suddenly everything was moving. Like glass cracking, breaking across the infinity I was in, then each piece having a nail scrapped down it eternally, I panicked and screamed and fought. The walls closed in, I was getting crushed, I was going to die!

Then suddenly that stopped and was replaced with piercing cold, and I remembered with sudden clarity that I needed to _breathe_.

Why had I stopped breathing in the first place? What was happening?

 _Breathe. Think. Calm yourself._

Going silent, I barely managed to open my eyes. Everything was a blur and my head felt like a heavy weight when I tried to move it. However, a set of giant hands came into sight close enough for me to make them out from the rest of the blurry world, picking me up and wrapping me in something warm. Picked up again, I was placed into another pair of arms, and when I looked up...

Oh.

...This beautiful, smiling face is my mother.

I'm a newborn baby.

...I think it's okay now to let the shock and trauma wash over me.

* * *

 **Hey guys, Raisalis here. This is a story that will _hopefully_ get written in a decent amount of time. If I don't update, tell my lazy ass to update please.**

 **Now, for this story... firstly, it will be a Reset!AU story. Later on there's going to be a lot of shenanigans happening, so if you wanted something closer to slice of life, this isn't the story for you. Yes, there will be slice of life in the first five to ten chapters, but... with resets happening, that will come to a quick stop.**

 **Secondly, I haven't decided who the love interest will be, though... I'm leaning towards two in particular. You can guess all you want, but I won't tell~**

 **(Because even I don't know, haha)**

 **You can find me on the MM Amino app as well. I draw mostly fan-art on there, but you can msg me too if you wanna discuss the story or something. Or just talk, that's cool too. It's "Rai", with a pen-sketch of 707 as the profile pic.**


	2. Chapter 2

I was a very quiet child for my first few months. At least, that's what I'm told. I don't remember much of that time since my adult brain was trying to cope with the situation and failing.

However, after that blur in the beginning, I finally snapped myself out of the funk I'd placed myself in.

If this is a second life, I should make the most of it, right? So I finally starting thinking again, despite the ever-present frustration caused from the lack of control of...

Well, everything. I couldn't really control my body, or what happened to me, or talk. I only had my thoughts and willpower to succeed.

Slowly, I regained control over my arms and legs, working whenever I was awake to move them. Motor-control was the most pertinent thing to achieve right now, though language would be a very close second, considering it was _not english_ that I kept hearing.

I figured that one out quickly after I snapped out of the beginning haze. My mother and father would come in to take care of and play with me, cooing sweet words that I could not understand. Reading and writing would be considered of third and fourth-most importance as well.

Speaking of my parents, I could tell they were both total sweethearts despite not understanding the language. The house was always filled with laughter whenever they were home, and they would bring me out of my crib sometimes to bring me downstairs (that's how I learned it was a two-story house) to make it easier to play with me. They'd cuddle me on the couch while watching TV, tickle me in between steps while cooking, hold hands and look at both each other and myself lovingly.

It was easy to fall in love with my second set of parents. I would not antagonize them for something they could not control, so I refused to think of them as replacements.

Time flew by in a blur. Wake up, diaper changed (another thing I would need to fix), food, try to fix motor-control, food, try to fix motor-control more, food, try to understand what my parents are talking about, sleep. Rinse and repeat.

My first birthday was an interesting affair. No other relatives came over to celebrate and there was no party, but there were lots of presents regardless. Mother and Father were quite happy, cooing to me and showing me a bunch of different toys that I would smile at and hold to the best of my ability.

It was a few days after that when I finally could crawl. Scared my parents really badly, considering I hadn't even spoke my first word yet to them, but they cleared out the area in front of the couch and TV so that I had a play area with all my toys.

After I got crawling down, things got a lot easier. The toys were easy access, Mother would often leave me downstairs in the play pit within her vision so I was also able to get a better grasp on the language, and best of all...

I could watch TV! It's truly a miracle for learning language, and with the quick learning capacity of a baby, I quickly figured out the language nuances.

This is also how I figured out the language was Korean. There was no mistaking the characters that would occasionally pop up on the screen.

Well, I'd always wanted to learn that language at least. Loved Mystic Messenger in my previous life, so I was actually a bit excited.

How funny would it be if they somehow existed and this was a separate world dimension? The thought was amusing, at the very least.


	3. Chapter 3

**I just want to note that I have no idea about Korean naming and such. I tried looking it up, but...**

 **I got a headache LOL**

 **Someone tell me if this name is okay, PLEASE.**

 **Also, we're going to be moving relatively fast through their early life; we want to get to the meat of everything, no?**

* * *

Within a month of being placed in front of the TV, I was able to speak short, simple phrases. The look on my mother's face when I spoke was worth speaking up early, and she even started bringing out picture books with some written words on them for me to start learning; though, I don't think I was supposed to know that.

To be honest, I was actually worried slightly about the ease she handled my accelerated learning. Wasn't Korea supposed to be infamous for their strict education? There were so many stories I'd heard in my previous life about kids committing suicide because of a failed test grade or something bad happening educationally. If Mother was taking advantage of my ability to quickly learn, she must already know how hard schooling is going to be for me, and trying to get me ahead of the pack.

This also made me reassess how intelligent my parents were, considering they both seemed to be on the wealthier part of the middle class. They just chose to live in an apartment, which I'm guessing is for Father's sake. I've been learning words for time, and I could already read a clock; he starts work apparently at 8 a.m. and he leaves at 7:45 to walk to work.

On another note, I finally learned my name was Mi-Yoon.

By the time my second birthday came around, I was speaking as clearly and coherently as my parents, albeit without big or complicated words that were harder for me to mentally translate from English. Father and Mother always looked proud, and would always hug me whenever possible.

"Happy birthday sweetie! Here, make a wish and blow out the candles," said Father, who placed a cake with two burning candles in front of me from where I sat at the table on Mother's lap.

 _I wish... that I'll be able to make things better, at least for one person._ _That I'll accomplish something worthwhile, and that I won't lose myself._

I blew out the candles with a puff of air that made me lightheaded.

If only I'd known.

* * *

"Hey, papa?" I asked, looking up at him from where I was drawing in a sketchbook; I'd loved drawing in my previous life, though only as a hobby so I was only ever decent at things like sketching and coloring with color theory, so I'd determined it would be something I'd try seriously with here. Telling my parents I wanted to draw was enough for them to get me a full set of colored pencils of decent enough quality along with a large sketchbook that would last me a year if I drew a page a day.

Of course, it didn't escape me that this would help my dexterity for writing; better to start early while I'm still developing. Speaking of which, I'd need to keep an eye on my posture and everything else so that I could avoid any issues from my previous life. I already know how much it sucks to be hunched over all the time; I've had enough back, shoulder, and jaw pain for one life, thank you.

"Yes honey?" Papa replied, looking over at me from where he was typing away on the other side of the kitchen table.

Man, that just made me itch to code too - my major was computer science, I could totally develop on that here and get way ahead of the game.

 _Note to self: get access to a laptop or computer as soon as humanly possible._

"What do you do for work?" I asked curiously.

He smiled at me, dragging his laptop with him as he sat next to me and put me in his lap. The screen was filled with website design applications and the such, as well as finance logs.

" _This_ is what I do for work. I know you haven't actually used a computer much, so a lot of my work you won't be able to understand yet, but you're smart so I think you'll get it," he said. He pointed at the screen and continued, "I basically make the 'images' for the company I work for, as well as manage some of the more random projects that the company head wants done."

If I were actually a child, I suppose I _might_ have understood what he said, but I doubted it. Luckily I was not mentally a child.

"And what company do you work for?"

Father hummed before opening up a search browser and typing in some Korean letters that I had yet to learn, then clicked on the website.

I should mention that this was a very eye-opening moment for myself, as what had popped up on that screen...

"I work for this company - C&R International. They do a lot of work in-"

Everything else got tuned out after that, because _C &R International _had the same logo and name on that page as the one from Mystic Messenger.

And when Father clicked on a tab showing his employer, it was _Chairman Han_.

Suddenly, my goals in life had an added aspect; I needed to get better not just at art and computers, but everything else as well, because I now knew a handful of people who I was determined to help in the future.


	4. Chapter 4

The days passed like a blur after that realization.

The first thing I did was ask Father, at that very moment, if I could use a computer myself; of course, this meant I had to survive a crash course in computers that I already knew about, but it was worth it in the end since I finally had my information source. Perhaps it was a testament to my excitement, but the next day found my Father giving me a shiny new laptop.

My parents were far too trusting of a three year old to not break a laptop, though I may have skewed their views on how toddlers normally act.

Still, I was extremely grateful that they were. My learning only managed to accelerate from there, until it became practically an obsession - okay, it was an obsession, there was no denying that. So wrapped up in my studies and such that I literally lost track of the years.

Yes, years. I lived day-by-day for _years_ , learning and perfecting art and programming and Korean. Reflecting on this period of time, I wonder if it was a side effect of death; dying and being reborn, yet stuck with memories of a previous life. Combined with the natural hyper-awareness of a young body, I honestly believe that the shock rattled something within my soul to the point it tore, leaving me with the need to learn because I honestly believed that it was the only way I'd make a difference later on.

 _I needed to learn. I needed to get better. I needed to make sure I wasn't useless._

I had a talent for art, and a talent for computers, and I had knowledge of an interesting future that I _knew_ I would be able to take part in. It wasn't too hard to put the dots together, that if my Father was so important to C&R International and worked relatively closely with Jumin's Father, then the place he works at must be the main company building. I later was able to confirm this once I had enough Korean under my belt to read the entire company website.

And if the main company building was here, then the story must take place either here or not too far from here, as it didn't take long for Jumin to get to MC from the company's headquarters... I hoped. I couldn't quite remember.

I was also able to get a better grasp on when exactly everything would be happening since I found Jumin's age in an article about some sort of interview with the Chairman. He was 8 when I was 3, so he was 5 years older than me. When the game happened, he was 27, so I had about 20 years to focus on bettering myself.

That also meant I was the same age as Saeyoung, and only two years younger than Zen.

This realization is probably what helped spur my obsession with learning, as it really hit home that the people in RFA were, for the most part, very successful in their fields. People who were my physical age, without the advantage of a previous life's knowledge, would run full speed ahead to success; I had to make sure I kept up, especially so I could help Saeyoung and Saeran-

Saeran? Ray?

Bah, I'd figure out how I wanted to do that part later.

Right now I had to improve.

* * *

 _So if I do this line, it messes this up, but then I can access this, so..._

 _Huh, I should look this up. Hmmm, no, not that, no that's just asking to be outed as a hacker, wait what's-_

...Oh.

Out of everything that could have woken me up, I didn't expect it to be the LOLOL advertisement on a programming site.

How ironic that a _game_ was what possibly saved me from myself, as I later found out, as I was 11 when I found it.

8 years were gone in a blink.

I'd felt a sense of cold dread wash over me while waiting for LOLOL to install that day when I realized I didn't know the date.

I didn't know my age. I didn't know what school I went to.

Did I even go to school? What had I been doing this whole time? The only thing I could clearly remember were learning to hack and starting up a FundsBud (this world's equivalent to pay pal, as hilarious as it is) so I could start doing some art commissions online.

I felt a headache coming on as I stumbled down the stairs in a daze and found my Mother in the kitchen. She must've been startled when I entered so quickly as she dropped the plate she'd been washing.

"M-Mom?" I stuttered, eyes wide as I took in my Mother's features. She'd started to develop a slight wrinkle under her eyes, but it was only noticeable to me because I felt like it wasn't supposed to be there; otherwise the makeup covered it beautifully. I swallowed nervously at this thought, "What- what- I... How old am I?"

Mother's own red eyes that I took after stared back at me just as wide as mine - was she tearing up? - and ran over and hugged me, "Oh honey... oh my sweet girl, you're 11 years old. Are you okay? How are you feeling? Oh Mi-Yoon..."

We both cried together that day in the kitchen, though while I was crying from terror, she was crying from happiness since her daughter's eyes no longer were dead.

* * *

Mother and Father were more than happy to fill in my many blanks, and I learned that I hadn't been idle in those 8 years that I'd lost. Apparently, I'd had an unprecedented drive for learning; so much so that my parents had shoved academic books far above my actual grade level in front of my face and I'd learned them inside out. They'd taken me when I was 8 to take a test that would allow me to pass elementary and middle school, and I'd passed with flying colors.

They showed me a few of the textbooks, and we learned that I couldn't exactly recall what I'd learned purely from memory; I had to have some sort of trigger or flag that would jog facts from my memory. Of course, the only thing we managed to trigger a memory of was a bit of history, so that wasn't very helpful to me.

I dreaded going outside. Mother and Father were wonderful and didn't pressure me to do anything, but I still felt terrible about being so fearful; I'd lost any knowledge of how to properly act within this country, and I was so afraid of going outside and messing up. I ended up becoming a shut-in.

My parents decided to reteach me a few things that they thought I should at least remember, such as cooking, sewing, and some of Father's business work alongside finances. I managed to pick up on them quickly after a short while, since I still had the muscle memory from some of the physical activities, and the business side of things was all math.

I could do math.

I also started playing LOLOL. The Shooting Star server that Yoosung and Seven would play on hadn't been created yet, though I had a feeling it wouldn't be created for a while - premium servers weren't even a thing yet, and that server was premium - so I just played on a random one. I spent so many hours on that game since it gave me such nostalgia. It truly was a mix of WoW and LoL from my first life...

 _I ignored the weight I felt growing in my chest, as it wouldn't do me any good to think about it._

* * *

When I was 14, Father decided it was time for me to come with him to see his work. It was kind-of like the "bring your child to work" day from my first life, except it was more along the lines of "show off your child to your boss and get them in their good graces" day. My parents had been teaching me the proper etiquette, saying multiple times that I'd have to interact with the outside world eventually (which yeah, I wanted to go outside and enjoy the breeze _eventually_ so I only protested the minimal amount), so I knew how to act.

 _Didn't change the fact I was nervous beyond belief._

I hadn't interacted with anyone in person besides my parents in years, give me a break here. Talking online to other LOLOL players and art commissioners was a completely different matter.

I stared up at the huge windowed building from its gates with Father. Luckily, it wasn't expected for children under 15 (basically anyone under high-school age) to dress formally, so I was able to wear my favorite cat-ear hoodie that I'd gotten for my last birthday. It helped calm my nerves, to the point where I didn't even care that some of the other employees were sending glares my way.

I was comfortable, damn it; Father even supported me wearing it.

 _I loved Father._

Father ruffled my hair a bit and I pouted, bringing up my hood to cover my head, "Don't worry Mi-Yoon, Chairman Han is a very kind man. I think he'll like you a lot."

I just nodded back quietly, following him inside. He chatted a bit with the person at the front desk before we were cleared to go see his boss, then we went to the elevator. The top floor was apparently 25?

Lo and behold, the 25th floor button was pressed. Go figure. The view out the glass elevator was amazing, of course, but something about the increasing height unnerved me.

 _Don't think about it_ , I thought, fiddling with the hem of my hoodie and the pocket my phone was in. I itched to just take it out and start typing some random code to calm down, but I stopped myself before I could.

The ding of the elevator rang out, and we stepped out into a large hallway that lead to a set of double-doors guarded by security. One of the guards greeted us before opening the door to a large office, as befitting for a CEO. A set of of sofas around a table sat to the right, a TV on the left, and a large desk right in front; a typical set-up for an office like this.

The man at the desk stood up with a smile and opened his arms wide.

"Ah, Mr. Pak! Come in, come in, have a seat over here," he said, gesturing over to the sofas where he was moving to take a seat already, "I'm so glad to see you, I have a few things to talk about regarding the details of a new idea I had, but first! This must be your daughter, it's wonderful to finally meet you." He held his hand out to shake and I shyly returned it.

This man was very... _happy_. I was feeling a bit overwhelmed. Also, I didn't realize my family's last name was Pak - the more you know, I suppose.

I once again reiterate that I hated losing so much time.

"I-It's very nice to meet you Chairman Han," I said, "I'm Mi-Yoon." He let go of my hand and sat back down, starting to poor some water for everyone.

"That's a lovely name for a girl like you," he replied, passing me a glass of water. I thanked him quietly, waiting until everyone had a glass before sipping at it. "I've heard many good things about you, miss. You seem to be quite talented at the arts, I've heard," he continued.

"Y-yes," I replied, cursing my inability to keep from stuttering, "I do some art commissions online. I could s-show you my website and some of my works if you'd like."

"Oh that would be just wonderful, I myself might just commission you sometime for some of my businesses. Do you think she would be up for that, Mr. Pak?"

Father smiled at him, "Of course she would, Mi-Yoon is very talented in both traditional and digital artwork. I'm sure she'd do a wonderful job if you commissioned her."

Suddenly the door opened, and a low voice said, "I apologize for my lateness, Father. I had to finish a meeting with the lead software architects regarding their newest project."

I froze. I'd suspected it might happen, but-

 _-No way was I getting to meet him this early. Is this some sort of deity making up for my lack of childhood?_

Chairman Han just smiled and said, "Ah, don't worry about it! Come over here - Mr. Pak, Mi-Yoon, this is my son, Jumin. Son, this is my Chief Commercial Officer, Mr. Pak and his daughter, Mi-Yoon."

Jumin looked just like a real-life version of his portrait in the game; granted, he was younger, but I could see what would change in time. It helped that his hairstyle and suit were pretty much the same as well.

Jumin blinked before going to shake our hands, "It's nice to meet you both. Please, just call me Jumin, it would get confusing otherwise."

"Nice to meet you, Jumin," Father replied.

"N-nice to meet you, J-Jumin," I stuttered out, suddenly more nervous than before. Was I really getting to meet one of the RFA this early? Really?

 _...Oh my god what do I do?_

Chairman Han looked over at my Father after the exchange and asked, "Well, we do need to get some business done first before anything else, unfortunately. The estimates coming back from the shipping company aren't looking... _correct_ , should I say." He turned to Jumin and I and continued, "That said, Jumin, could you please show Mi-Yoon around? She might just end up helping us one day and I'd like for her to get a feel for how we run things here."

Jumin glanced over at me before nodding.

"Of course. Come along now," he said, gesturing for me to follow him out the door. I hesitated for a moment, looking over at Father who just gave me a reassuring smile before walking over to Chairman Han's desk.

Well, now or never. My nerves were definitely shot, because _oh god I was going to be forced to talk to Jumin_ , but I quickly followed him out the door.


End file.
